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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Nov 1995, 3070-3073, Vol 33, No. 11
Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Bacillus licheniformis prosthetic aortic valve endocarditis

F Santini, V Borghetti, G Amalfitano and A Mazzucco
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Verona Medical School, Italy.

A 73-year old man developed an acute prosthetic aortic valve dehiscence for which emergent operation was undertaken. The intraoperative evidence of an aortic annular disruption and of a subannular abscess led to the hypothesis that an endocarditis process was involved. The aortic valve was replaced with a stentless porcine bioprosthesis. Cultures taken intraoperatively from the aortic area had a pure growth of aerobic, spore-forming, gram-positive bacilli identified as Bacillus licheniformis. The patient responded to specific antibiotic therapy with no relapse at a 20-month follow-up. The potentiality of B. licheniformis as a pathogen should be reconsidered.

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